Why youths volunteer: A decade-long journey with Youth Corps Singapore

Written by: Amanda Tan

• In this Why Youths Volunteer series, we hear from Youth Corps Singapore volunteers about how they got involved with volunteerism and what motivates them to continue serving the community.

• In celebration of Youth Corps Singapore’s tenth anniversary, we spoke to Anita Chan, who was in the pioneer batch of the Youth Corps Leaders Programme.

In a decade, much can be achieved — fulfil the minimum occupation period of a BTO flat in a prime location, compile enough exams for a Ten Year Series book, or grow your savings in the CPF exponentially.

For Anita Chan An Lin, the past 10 years have been dedicated to a different kind of accomplishment: consistently choosing to uplift those in need.

A corporate lawyer, the 29-year-old spends her time outside of work volunteering for different causes, such as destigmatising conversations about mental health and raising awareness of the special needs community.

“In my work, I deal with corporate clients and a lot of talk about money," she explains. “Volunteering keeps me grounded...I get to interact with the community and be more aware of the issues in the community, so I'm not just living in my own bubble in the corporate world.”

Currently 29 years old, Anita works as a full-time corporate lawyer. Photo Credit: Youthopia/Amanda Tan

After her A-Levels in 2013, Anita chanced upon the Youth Corps Leaders Programme (YCLP) — the only programme Youth Corps Singapore had at the time — in an ad on Facebook. YCLP aims to equip young volunteers with leadership skills through hands-on projects that last for nine to 12 months.

She recalls: “I felt like it was quite interesting because you could learn different skills and apply them in planning and executing actual projects. I felt like it was a meaningful way for me to spend my free time, so I decided to sign up with my twin sister.”

The YCLP induction camp held at Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) was a memorable start for Anita. The attendees’ enthusiasm created a positive environment, providing a vastly different experience she had from her Secondary Three OBS camp.

“All these people want to be here, and it really inspired me that it's nice to be together with like-minded people who want to do good. Over the years, this has been a continuing thing. The people I meet always inspire me to want to be better myself,” she shares.

Subsequently, as part of the one-year YCLP, Anita worked on a ground-up initiative to serve the elderly in the Chong Pang area before moving on to helping a village in Laos install solar panels.

Anita and her team installed solar panels in a village clinic as it previously did not have a very reliable source of electricity. Photo Credit: Anita Chan

Halfway through the programme, Anita moved to the UK for three years to pursue her Bachelor of Laws at King’s College London. There, she helped out with her YCLP group project remotely. She also continued her involvement in community work by joining the university’s Hot Chocolate Society, a group dedicated to offering a hot drink and some conversation to the city's rough sleepers. This experience taught her that impactful volunteering doesn't always require grand gestures; sometimes, it's about offering a listening ear.

Now known as KCL On The Streets, the team helps London’s homeless community through outreach sessions and fundraising events. Photo Credit: Anita Chan

By the time Anita returned home in 2017, Youth Corps Singapore had expanded its programmes and introduced clusters focusing on various causes, making volunteering more inclusive and diverse. These clusters allow volunteers to focus on specific areas such as special needs, mental health, the environment, and more.

After her initial experience, Anita’s involvement grew alongside the organisation. “When I came back, I realised that there are a lot of volunteering opportunities and I could always try volunteering with different communities,” recalls Anita. One of the new initiatives was the Big Brother, Big Sister programme. Through the programme, volunteers could engage with children with autism on a biweekly basis so their caregivers could take a break.

It was the first run of Big Brother, Big Sister when Anita rejoined Youth Corps Singapore and prior to it, she had minimal interaction with people with special needs. It proved to be a fresh experience, no doubt, with obstacles along the way. When she witnessed one of the kids experiencing a meltdown, she recalls it being “scary” because she was unsure of how to handle the situation.

“She was just crying, knocking her head on the floor, pulling out our hair, scratching us and all that. That was pretty challenging but also a very memorable experience for me because it made me even more aware of the need for society to be understanding of such persons with special needs because it's not really within their control. The child is also trying to express something but she just can't verbalise what she needs.”

“It's not like there's any magic formula or anything. You really just need to be patient and understanding. They're just like any one of us. You need time to get to know (them), just like when making a new friend.”

During this time, while Anita and another volunteer were trying their best to calm the child down, parents of other kids came to check in on them, offering assistance. Heartened by their support and love, Anita felt like it was a space she wanted to continue being in. She went on to join the second and third run of Big Brother, Big Sister before participating in other ad-hoc events organised by the Special Needs Cluster, one of the six cause-based clusters formed by Youth Corps Singapore.

While studying for the Bar and receiving training at a law firm, Anita spent her pockets of free time volunteering. Photo Credit: Anita Chan

Finally, in December 2019, Anita joined the Special Needs Cluster with the hopes of doing more for the special needs community. Her responsibilities as a member included planning and executing programmes for individuals with various disabilities. During the pandemic, when physical interactions were limited, Anita and her team adapted by curating webinars to raise awareness about various disabilities.

Anita describes her experience in the Special Needs Cluster as a collaborative and supportive environment. “It was a pretty safe space to learn and fail. Many things went wrong with our projects, but we learned from our mistakes and saw what we could do better next time.”

It was through the ad-hoc volunteering sessions with the cluster that Anita realised how much more she could do to help the community. Photo Credit: Anita Chan

After three years, Anita was nominated to be a Youth Lead for the cluster, which meant she’d oversee projects by other cluster members. She stepped up to this challenge to guide and develop other young volunteers.

“It's about youth development because we also conduct check-ins with the cluster members to help them reflect on their growth and learning,” she explains.

Besides being involved in the Special Needs Cluster, she joined Project Re:ground Community Peer Supporters sometime in 2021, an initiative in collaboration with the Health Promotion Board that advocates for the importance of mental well-being and peer support.

As it was still during the pandemic, Anita spent most of her days working from home. With stressors from her corporate job as a lawyer and limited interaction with others, she began to feel increasingly isolated. However, in the moments that she did talk with her colleagues and teammates, she realised that they were all feeling the same thing. Being able to relate to others eased the loneliness. And so, when the chance to join Project Re:ground came up, Anita thought that she wanted to be that someone for someone else. As a community peer supporter, Anita heads to The Red Box on Thursdays when she is rostered for duty to offer a listening ear to youth who drop by.

Anita’s role at Project Re:ground Community Peer Supporters allowed her to apply what she’d learnt to her work in the Special Needs Cluster. Photo Credit: Anita Chan

Apart from fulfilling her role as a community peer supporter, Anita also joined the first batch of Peer Support Leaders, a step up from her original role. As a leader, Anita’s duty was to help with planning of cohesions for existing members and facilitating the onboarding session of new peer supporters.

“Facilitation was a bit scary at first because sometimes I just don't know what to say, don't know how to respond. But I think that kind of intrigued me into wanting to do it more to hone my skills even further. So actually, ever since my own onboarding session, I've joined every single onboarding session.”

Thus far, Anita has helped out with five sessions as she believes that there is always something to learn about facilitating conversations, especially when talking about mental health. “People have a lot of different experiences and it's always very interesting to hear different perspectives,” she says.

Conversation cards, puzzles and colouring books are some of the many activities youths can engage in at Re:ground @ Dungeon. Photo Credit: Youthopia/Amanda Tan

Reflecting on the last decade, Anita says: “Even if I feel like maybe I've been with one cluster for many years and I feel like I'm not really growing or learning anymore, I can choose to explore a different type of community or volunteering and keep learning more. There’s space to venture out and grow while still maintaining an ecosystem of support and community (in Youth Corps Singapore).”

Anita advises youths to just take the first step and try out volunteering. Photo Credit: Anita Chan

Dipping her toes into a myriad of roles has also made Anita more confident in her abilities. “I never really saw myself as a leader or anything, but it was really a gradual progression after volunteering for a while, then stepping up to try leadership roles. Then I realised that, hey, I can do it too.”

“I now have the mindset that as long as I'm interested in something, I can just go ahead and try. There's always something to learn. It doesn't matter if I fail; it's always a learning process. I guess it made me open to try different things, even in my personal life.”